PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. SENATORS
In the final game of their 2014-15 schedule, Craig Berube's Philadelphia Flyers (33-30-18) host Dave Cameron's Ottawa Senators (42-26-13) on Saturday afternoon. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 12:30 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the third and final meeting between the Metro Division clubs this season, and the second game in Philadelphia. Both previous games have gone to a shootout, with the home team winning the skills competition. The Flyers took the bonus point in a 2-1 final in Philadelphia on Jan. 6. The Senators returned the favor, 2-1, in Ottawa on March 15.
The Flyers had a light practice on Friday after hosting the Carolina Hurricanes the previous evening. The Senators played the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, earning a win that left Ottawa on the brink of clinching a playoff spot.
Prior to Saturday's game, the Flyers will present their annual team awards.
Flyers outlook
The Flyers sustained a 3-1 loss to the Hurricanes on Thursday. A mid first-period deflection goal by Carolina defenseman Brett Bellemore held up as the lone goal until midway through the third period. A power play one-timer by defenseman Ryan Murphy extended the lead to 2-0 with Michael Del Zotto in the penalty box on a double-minor for high sticking.
The Flyers, who created few chances in the opening 55 minutes, finally generated a frenzy of pressure late in the game after twice pulling the goaltender for a 6-on-5. First, Sean Couturier scored a deflection goal to cut the deficit to 2-1 with 3:41 remaining in the game.
Philadelphia came within a whisker of tying the game late, but a Claude Giroux shot that got past the outstretched right pad of Carolina goalie Cam Ward (27 saves) went off the post behind the goaltender. Shortly thereafter, Jordan Staal sealed the 3-1 win with an empty net goal.
Ray Emery played well enough in goal to keep the Flyer competitive in a game where he, too, often went long stretches of inactivity. Emery turned back 24 of 26 shots. He had no chance to stop the Bellemore goal and very little on the Murphy goal. Steve Mason is expected to be back in goal for Saturday's game.
Thursday's loss aside, the Flyers have been a good home team this season, bringing a 23-10-7 record into the finale. They were also good against top-caliber opponents, posting a 9-1-3 record in their most recent 13 games against teams in playoff position at the time of the game.
The flip side of the coin: The team's 10-20-11 road record doomed them to missing the playoffs. Likewise, the team's 0-7-5 record in its last 12 games against fellow non-playoff teams is mystifying in light of their success against many of the teams atop the standings.
This season, Philly has set a new franchise record for regular season games that have gone past regulation. They are 3-11 in shootouts and have also lost seven games in overtime.
The Flyers lineup for the finale is missing Wayne Simmonds (left leg fracture), Andrew MacDonald (right hand fracture), Luke Schenn (abdominal tear), R.J. Umberger (hip and abdominal surgery) and trade deadline acquisition Radko Gudas (knee surgery). Additionally, Vincent Lecavalier (upper-body injury) is out and the team must make an emergency recall from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to ice a full lineup.
Senators outlook
The Senators have made an incredible turn-around in the standings in the second half of the season. Entering the final game of the season, Ottawa needs one point against the Flyers to clinch a playoff spot regardless of what the Penguins do against the Buffalo Sabres or how the Boston Bruins fare against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Ottawa has won each of its last two games after seeming to be coming back down to earth a little over its previous eight games (4-2-2). On Thursday night, an urgently motivated Senators squad blanked a largely disinterested New York Rangers team by a 3-0 final. Having already clinched the President's Trophy, New York rested some key regulars.
Unless the Flyers successfully play the spoiler again in regulation -- as they have done twice recently to the Penguins and once to the New York Islanders -- the Senators will complete one of hockey's biggest in-season comebacks in recent memory.
It is still possible for the Senators to make the playoffs even if they lose in regulation to the Flyers. That would require the Boston Bruins losing in any fashion to Tampa Bay. If the Senators lose in regulation and the Bruins beat the Bolts (in any fashion) to leapfrog the Senators via tiebreaker, Ottawa would need Buffalo to beat the Penguins in regulation to avoid tumbling from the higher wildcard seed to missing the playoffs.
On the injury front, Milan Michalek (upper body), Chris Neil (broken thumb) and Matt Puempel (high ankle sprain) are out of the lineup for Ottawa.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.60 (T-20th), Senators 2.83 (10th) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.72 (T-20th), Senators 2.56 (14th) Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 1.01 (19th), Senators 1.08 (T-11th) Power play efficiency: Flyers 23.6% (3rd), Senators 16.7% (21st) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 77.1% (27th), Senators 82.8% (11th) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 51.2% (12th), Senators 48.2% (24th)
Projected lineups (Subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek 24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 10 Brayden Schenn 25 Ryan White - 52 Nick Cousins - 36 Zac Rinaldo 76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare- [callup player]
15 Michael Del Zotto - 55 Nick Schultz 8 Nicklas Grossmann - 32 Mark Streit 26 Carlo Colaiacovo - 43 Brandon Manning
35 Steve Mason [29 Ray Emery]
Scratches: Vincent Lecavalier (upper body), Luke Schenn (lower body), Wayne Simmonds (left leg fracture), Andrew MacDonald (right hand fracture), R.J. Umberger (hip/abdominal surgery), Radko Gudas (IR, knee surgery).
SENATORS
16 Clarke MacArthur - 7 Kyle Turris - 61 Mark Stone 68 Mike Hoffman - 93 Mika Zibanejad - 6 Bobby Ryan 27 Curtis Lazar - 44 Jean-Gabriel Pageau - 22 Erik Condra 15 Zack Smith - 17 David Legwand - 90 Alex Chiasson
3 Marc Methot - 65 Erik Karlsson 46 Patrick Wiercioch - 5 Cody Ceci 74 Mark Borowiecki - 62 Eric Gryba
30 Andrew Hammond [41 Craig Anderson]
Scratches: Chris Phillips (healthy), Jared Cowen (healthy), Colin Greening (healthy), Matt Puempel (high ankle sprain), Milan Michalek (upper body), Chris Neil (IR, broken thumb), Robin Lehner (IR, concussion).
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PHANTOMS AND PROSPECT UPDATES
* AHL: The Lehigh Valley Phantoms claimed a 2-1 win via shootout against the Norfolk Admirals at the PPL Center on Friday night. Rob Zepp (33 saves on 34 shots) yielded a wraparound goal to Matt Bailey on the first shot of the game before be could get over to seal off the left post but then was flawless the rest of the way in regulation and overtime. Scott Laughton knotted the game at 1-1 with a second-period power play goal on a one-timer from the right circle. After a scoreless third period and overtime, skills competition goals by Petr Straka and Laughton combined with Zepp stopping two of three Norfolk attempts to win the game.
* QMJHL: Flyers 2013 first-round pick Samuel Morin was not in the lineup for Rimouski's 2-1 loss to Gantineau in Game One of their second-round series.
* QMJHL: Flyers 2014 second-round pick Nicolas-Aube Kubel was held off the scoresheet in Val-d'Or's 3-2 loss in double overtime to Baie-Comeau in Game One of their second-round series.
* WHL: The Calgary Hitmen claimed Game One of their second-round series with the Medicine Hat Tigers by a 3-1 count. Neither Flyers 2014 first-round pick Travis Sanheim (minus one) nor 2014 sixth-round selection Radel Fazleev figured in any of the scoring.
* WHL: The Kelowna Rockets steamrolled the Victoria Royals, 5-0, in Game One of their second-round series. Flyers 2013 third-round pick Tyrell Goulbourne returned to the lineup after missing a pair of games in the previous round. He did not record a point and received a second-period hooking penalty.
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FLYERS ALUMNI UPDATES FROM FlyersAlumni.org
From the time Flyers Alumni Association was founded in 1984, the non-profit organization has raised and/or donated nearly $3.5 million for charitable and community-based organizations throughout the Delaware Valley.
Over the past alone year, the Flyers Alumni Association has donated $459,082 to worthy causes. That is some mighty impressive work by the Alumni, for whom Todd Fedoruk has taken over as the president, Brian Propp is now the secretary, Brian Boucher is executive vice president and former president Don Saleski serves as treasurer.
The Flyers Alumni Team's seven benefit hockey games played during the 2014-15 season and related fundraising events tied to them raised $432,582, which were donated to the selected benefactors. The Alumni Team's success would not be possible without the hard work that Joe Watson, Bob Kelly, Propp and others due. Additionally, to date in 2015, the total of monies donated directly on behalf of the Philadelphia Flyers Alumni Association equals $26,500.
Note: This does NOT include money raised at the 20+ charity golf outings the Flyers Alumni body loyally attended as celebrity guests.
Here's a look at what's going on with the Alumni:
* The Flyers Alumni team will play a special benefit game on Sunday at the Flyers Skate Zone in Northeast Philadelphia to raise money for NHS Human Services campaign to "Put Hunger in the Penalty Box" as the centerpiece of its Goals for Giving program.
Game time is 1:30 p.m. (all tickets cost $10) with an after-party at Chickie's and Pete's on Roosevelt Blvd. at 3:30 p.m. ($20 admission) and, there will also be a pregame youth hockey shootout ($20 entry fee). All proceeds will go to benefit NHS Human Services programs in the Delaware Valley, which provides nutritious foods to the needy and teaches life skills and food preparation to people with disabilities. NHS also supports autism-sensitive schooling as well as housing programs for the needy.
Flyers Hall of Fame inductee Brian Propp has served as a board member for NHS and is a staunch supporter of their mission. The Alumni and NHS have worked together for 11 years. The first benefit game, held at the rink in Warwick, raised $1,700. The event has grown by leaps and bounds with each passing year. This year, Goals for Giving has already raised $106,625 toward its $125,000 goal.
With strong support for the upcoming benefit game as well as online donations, the target could be met or even exceeded. For more about the Goals for Giving program, including donation opportunities, click here.
* The Flyers Alumni will host a fantasy hockey camp from August 21-24 in Atlantic City, open to anyone age 21 and older. Instructors and Alumni participants will include Bernie Parent, Brian Propp, Ian Laperriere, Todd Fedoruk, Andre "Moose" Dupont, Dave "the Hammer" Schultz, Joe Watson and Bob "the Hound" Kelly. The registration deadline is June 1. Participation costs $3,000 apiece but it is free to register a spot online. Over on the Flyers' Alumni website, there is more information on camp-related activities and on-ice schedules.